Cheetah Matchmaking: Helping Big Cats Find A Mate | Expedition Raw

One two three great stuff! I'm a cheetah matchmaker. I actively manage a stud book for cheetah in 53 different reserves across the country. So, I effectively identify which cheetah are related to each other to swap individuals between these reserves to prevent inbreeding.

There we go! We'd prefer natural gene flow, but the landscape has been transformed by human activities. It's no longer possible for cheetahs to traverse the landscape. The vet's got his start gun ready and he's going to fire away. It's then that you realize things are either going to go well now or they're going to go pear-shaped.

It takes them a good 5 minutes to go down, and in that period, they can cover a fair amount of distance. It's often quite tricky to locate them, especially if there's thick bush. But once we've immobilized a cheetah, we've got about 40 minutes to do various amounts of work to obtain genetic material from them.

A nice mucus over there! We then put the animals into relocation crates, especially designed to prevent the cheetah hopping around too much. I must be honest; I still go through bouts of nervousness. We've learned that it's not easy to relocate wildlife. They're very stressed.

We need to move; let's just have a look at the ventilator. Get him out! Get him out! We prefer to release in light so that the animal doesn't run into the fence lines and fence posts. During emergencies, we sometimes have to make the hard call of releasing at night. If he starts running into the sides of the bower, then we'll be left with no option but to immobilize him again, which will not be ideal.

But last thing we want to do is lose this cat. I don't think we must have you guys there. Sorry! First thing we want to do, turn around and TRF to us nice and relaxed. The very best moment for me in this job is when you get that phone call from the reserve manager saying, "Vincent, we've got four new cubs that were born to the cheetah that you B in here six months ago." That is what really brings joy to my heart. The cheetah's wasting me! I was about to scream; I was ventilating.